Engaging Fortune Teller

Engaging Fortune Teller

Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

My mother recently went to a fortune teller (which she is definitely not supposed to because it's haraam) and she was telling me that the fortune teller said that I wouldl have a bad life if I marry my soon-to-be husband and that we will not stay together for more than 2 years.... I know that only Allah Knows the future but I’ve been really worried by what she said....and what can I do to potentially "reverse” this from happening.... really I’m so confused, I don't know what to think.

In the name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful;

All the praise and Thanks is due to Allāh, the Lord of al-`ālameen. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allāh, and that Muhammad, Sallallāhu `alayhi wasallam, is His Messenger

Firstly:

May Allah reward you for your belief that Allah alone knows the unseen – this is what we hope for you and for every sincere Muslim woman – and this is one of the essentials of faith in Allah Alone.

But we wonder how, after saying this, you can be afraid of one who knows nothing of the unseen?

You have to be assured and put your trust completely in Allah, for nothing will happen to you except that which has been decreed by Allah.

Secondly:

The ruling on fortune-telling, i.e., soothsaying, and claiming to know the unseen, is that these are actions which condemn a person to Hell and put him beyond the pale of Islam.

Thirdly:

Fortune-tellers cooperate with the jinn; they are liars who cooperate with the shayaateen (devils), who do not help them except after they have changed their religion, and whoever changes his religion [leaves Islam] the consequences is to be executed accordingly. The ruling concerning those who go to them and believe them is that they are guilty of kufur; if they do not believe them; their prayers will still not be accepted from them for forty days.

The evidence (dalil) for the former is the hadith of Abu Hurairah, according to which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and believes what he says, has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad.” [Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 135; Abu Dawud, 3904; Ibn Majah, 639; Ahmad, 9252. The hadith was classified as sahih by al-Hakim (1/49), and al-Dhahabi agreed with him. Al-Hafiz ibn Hajar said, it has two corroborating reports narrated by al-Bazzar with good isnads. See al-Fath, 10/217]

The evidence (dalil) for the latter is the report from one of the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and asks him about anything, his prayers will not be accepted for forty days.” [Narrated by Muslim, 2230].

Fourthly:

How the fortune-teller gets his “information” was explained in the hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “When Allah decrees a matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to His words, making a sound like a chain striking a rock. When the fear is banished from their hearts, they say, What is it that your Lord has said? They say: The truth and He is the Most High, the Most Great. Then the one who is listening out hears that, and those who are listening out are standing one above the other” – Sufyan [one of the narrators] demonstrated with his hand, holding it vertically with the fingers outspread. – “So he hears what is said and passes it on to the one below him, and that one passes it to the one who is below him, and so on until it reaches the lips of the soothsayer or fortune-teller. Maybe the meteor will hit him before he can pass anything on, or maybe he will pass it on before he is hit. He tells a hundred lies alongside it, but it will be said, did he not tell us that on such and such a day, such and such would happen? So they believe him because of the one thing which was heard from heaven.” [Narrated by al-Bukhari, 4424].

Fifthly:

When the Shaytaan listens out to hear what the angels say to one another about the decree of Allaah, this is part of the knowledge of the seen, it does not mean that the shayaateen have knowledge of the unseen. Then they add a hundred lies to that word, such as when a fortune-teller says that So and so will give birth to a boy, and the people see that he was right about that so they believe in him, but he adds lies about the child, saying that he will get married in such and such a year and will die in such and such a year and other such details. So he gains a high stature in people’s hearts and they seek to get close to him by bringing him gifts and money, and he makes a profession out of these lies when the people believe in him, and so he makes a living by haram means.

Sixthly:

Not every fortune-teller is a kaahin (soothsayer). He may be a geomancer or reader of coffee-cups, because the kaahin, unlike the others, is one who receives information from the jinn. The others are just liars, but the same ruling applies to them, because they claim to have knowledge of the unseen, although the kaahin who cooperates with the shayaateen is more of a kafir because the kufur of fortune-telling is compounded by the kufur of his interacting with the shayaateen, who do not give him what he wants until after he directed some acts of worship towards them in a manner which takes him out of Islam.

Seventhly:

You have to advise your mother not to go anywhere near these liars, lest she falls into sin or her good deeds are wiped out. Do not give up the idea of marriage, because marriage brings many benefits. It is an important matter which is part of the fitrah (natural inclinations of man) and of the religion. Your life will not be miserable, in sha Allaah; be optimistic and hope for a good and happy life. We ask Allah to join you with a husband who is knowledgeable and righteous.

If something bad happens, and you marry someone with whom you are miserable, this is because of the decree of Allah (qadaa’ and qadar), not because of what the accursed fortune-teller said or because he knows the unseen. This may happen as a test or trial. In any case, going ahead with the marriage – in addition to its own great benefits – will be a way of snubbing these liars and fortune-tellers, and those who believe in them.

May Allah the Exalted Guide us to the straight path.

Allah Almighty Knows Best

[Via Islam Q&A]